update: fully finished object! I picked up a silver frame while we were holiday shopping and finally did something with the Peace Tree so it could be displayed for the holidays.

I finished Peace Tree by M-Designs the other night during the lunar eclipse. (It was amazing to watch, by the way!) I accidentally deleted my progress pics before I uploaded them to Flickr (oops!) so I don’t have my usual slide show progress video to share for this one, just the finished pic.

I stitched this over one using DMC 500 floss, Mill Hill frosted glass seed beads #62047, and the purple star Mill Hill treasure for the topper on a 28 count evenweave Silkweaver Solo dyed fabric. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the fabric has tints of purple and green in it, which is why I chose the beads and floss in those colors.

It’s been awhile since I did tiny stitching over one, so it took me awhile to get this one done, about two and a half weeks total I think. I didn’t have as much stitching time as I’d like to have had, but when do we ever, right? I was a little worried at first that it was going to be a difficult project, but once you get going on it things come together pretty quickly!

At some point I realized I made a tiny mistake, but I made it on both sides of the design, so I totally just flubbed it and stitched around it to make it work 😉 He still needs cut out of the perforated paper, but I couldn’t find my tiny scissors that I use for that step, so he’s waiting in the ‘to be finished fully’ project bin until the next time I work on finishing up some ornaments for display.

I always feel like I stitch slower when I’m stitching in hand instead of using my stand, but these Mill Hill kits are fun and they make me happy so I don’t mind the extra time investment. I got off to a really slow start thanks to some swelling in my hands, but the blue stitches filled in quickly and I just took my time with it.

I pulled this out of the neglected unfinished project pile this week and put a few stitches in it. As much as I love this piece, it is difficult to make progress on when my stitching time has been limited and in short bursts lately. Someday it will be a beautiful and amazing finish, but probably not in 2018.

I’m stitching on 28 count evenweave from Silkweaver Expressions (this is an “old Silkweaver” and the color is no longer available but I think the closest match would be called Precious Metals) and I’m using DMC variegated thread (#115 garnet) instead of the usual sampler silks.

I still haven’t decided what to put in the circle that you can customize in the upper wreath section. I wanted to do something different than the usual anniversary date, but nothing is really springing to mind. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, please drop me a comment below.

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This first little bit took me about an hour and a half to get done. I always have this strange self-doubt in my ability to count when I’m placing the first handful of stitches into a new start. Also, I’m really liking having a needle minder, I’ve only been using one for the past month or so but they’re pretty handy to have. (I picked my needle minder up at the Ship’s Manor Etsy shop ~ Erik makes some pretty awesome stuff)

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My January 2013 stash acquisition to kick of the new year with was the chart and supplies to stitch My Token of Love by Rosewood Manor, along with a few extra packs of my favorite John James Needles because you can never have enough extra needles.

Over the past year I’ve been eyeing several of Rosewood Manor’s patterns and they’re quickly becoming a favorite for me. If you’ve been following my window shopping adventures here on the blog you’ve probably seen them pop up a few times.

May was a complicated month out there in the real life world. My husband (Brian) had gallbladder removal surgery. Someone shot our van window out with what I assume was an Airsoft or BB gun while we were going down the road near our house. Lucas turned 20-years-old 😮 We’re getting ready for graduation coming up in a few weeks, Noah graduates this year and then next year only Ethan will be high school. In February all of my kids will be adults ~ I suddenly feel a little old.

Surprisingly, I managed to get a little bit of stitching done here and there throughout the month, even with weird weather and humidity making my knuckles angry.

Better late than never, right? I started this project in January 2017 with the intention of working on it with the group and keeping up, but that didn’t happen. (Thanks a lot, autoimmune disease…) so here I am getting back to stitching it in 2018 and making some progress again.

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